Best Hot Dog

Carlos' Hot Dogs

Food trucks are a dandy craze, and we're thankful they've finally arrived in the Midwest, blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, for the past seven years, Carlos Pereira's hot-dog cart has anchored the intersection of Olive and Sixth streets downtown, existing in a street food-vending world all its own. A native of Portugal who worked as a chef in Canada's fine-dining industry for two decades before moving to St. Louis, Pereira equips his corner like a veritable kitchen, complete with jumbo-size grill and an assistant who helps out with the fixins. His thick, juicy hot dogs and Polish sausages are a delight, and if you prefer not to take our word for it, get an eyeful of the downtowners who queue up at his cart during lunch hour every day. After grilling his dogs, Pereira slathers them with a special sauce then seals the deal with another concoction applied from a spray bottle -- both are secret recipes about which Pereira will reveal nothing beyond the fact that they're made by his mother. Look for the cart weekdays from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m., weather permitting.